Odisha in India is fighting another battle of freedom in the
remote hilly tracks of Niyamgiri. This hill range is probably 250 kilometers
long in the most backward district of Kalahandi and Rayagada. These forests are
rich in minerals and forests , inhabited by lesser-known indigenous ,
primitive, tribes of Dongriya Kondh and Kutiya Kondh who speak kui ,a dialect
very local to Niyamgiri area. These indigenous people survive mainly of forest
produce, shifting cultivation and animal hunting. The outreach of any kind of
government programmes are almost nill and they survive on their own laid out system
of medicine and food habits. Sometimes they come down to local markets with
some kind of collected forest produce to exchange it with salt and oils.
I would like to share with the readers that I have also
worked as an NGO worker in Kalahandi District of Odisha in Thuamul Rampur Block
which is accessible by road from Bhawanipatna . These are hilly areas still
very poor in road,electricity, mobile phone and health service connectivity.
The tribal people are surviving on their indigenous systems of birth , marriage,
markets and death. There are repeated
attacks of malaria, cholera and other viral-diseases which go unreported in
mainstream media. It is also very difficult for dedicated social workers to
work here due to presence of wild animals, forest mafia and Maoists who have
pre-defined territories which no one can violate. Even the local police and forest personnel do not want to visit
these villages due to lack of roads and risk of life for them.
Kondhs, the indeginous tribe, in these mountains must have been reduced to a
few thousands now but they are being approached by the State machinery due to a
Supreme Court order to hold Gram Sabha, locally called as palli Sabha , in
these some 12 bigger villages. Vedanta
want to mine some 70 million plus tonnes of bauxite from this area spread below
the land area believed to be possessed and owned by God on the hilltop of Hundal
jali called as Nimmagiri- the God who protects these tribal
from the eyes of the evil forces. Supreme Court passed an order in April 2013
to ask for a vote from the inhabitants of the villages residing in the remotes
of Niyamgiri.
Vedanta wants to mine bauxite from more than 660 hectares of
land in the area. Even before all permissions were received they had
constructed an alumina refinery at Lanjhigarh near the base of Niyamgiri
with a cost estimated to be close to 1.7 billion dollars. The promoter of
Vedanta have offered these villagers a series of vivid plans under corporate
social responsibility (CSR) but they are
yet to be accepted by the inhabitants. The last of the 12 big public
hearing-cum-gram sabhas held there have unanimously rejected the plans
of Vedanta and it is now for the District Judge to finalize the reports and
submit it to the Hon. Supreme Court of India.
So what we saw was an open-air , first ever, environmental-
hearings , being conducted under the supervision of the Supreme Court thanks to
timely intervention of the son-of-the –soil leader Sri Rahul Gandhi supported
by the Ministry of Forest to protect the rights of the tribal through Forest
rights Act by denying the permissions for Vedanta. Vedanta approached the
Supreme Court which then ordered these open-air referendum, through palli
sabha ( Gram Sabha ). The local leaders also supported the efforts to
approach the indigenous people for this referendum.
The followers of Nimmagiri
have expressed their votes in favour of their God, now it remains to be how the
Highest Court of the civilized- land deals with the dadagiri of
Vedanta !
Will Nimmagiri win over dadagiri
?
I pray it, the
former, wins !
Dated 20th.August, 2013 written with inputs from various
published media reports and supported in strict confidence with my own experience of working in Odisha.
tag : odisha @vedanta. Vedanta. Supreme Court of India, Dongriya
Kondh, Kutiya Kondh, Rahul Gandhi, Gram
Sabha, Forest Right Act, CSR,
feedback may be sent to ameerparvez@gmail.com
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